Isn’t it odd that Apple are not yet selling their own security keys?
Further reading:
- Apple's passkey security doc: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213305
- I liked this overview of Passkeys vs Yubikeys, but of course it's a bit biased: https://www.yubico.com/blog/a-yubico-faq-about-passkeys/
Or maybe Apple is just deciding to require it from you for mysterious reasons. Your IP could have a bad reputation and they're not sure if it's you. Though I think they sometimes they require the password just to keep you from forgetting it.
Disagree.
There are over 2 billion Apple devices deployed and tens of millions more get sold quarter, so market size isn't an issue.
There's no reason to believe Apple wouldn't be able to get their average margin of around 35% on a security device if they wanted to.
And what competition? The Apple branded security key would be the only one available via the online store that can be bundled with any Mac, iPad or iPhone purchase. And certainly the only one designed specifically for the Apple ecosystem.
It's just a matter of whether or not Apple can add features above and beyond what's typically available.
An easy one would be Find My integration like the AirPods Pro 2 case or the AirTag. Using Find My, the owner could periodically check (or Apple could automate it) that security key is where it's supposed to be, like a relative's house or bank deposit box.
Adding a U1 chip would allow the security key to be found if it were misplaced in a user's home… or in the event of a natural disaster like an earthquake.
And of course they could add TouchID to it, acting as a second factor so only the intended user could use it.
I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface of all the features Apple is uniquely positioned to add to a security key.
with Google branding slapped on them (of course)
The difference is just the 'Designed in California' part, which in the case of a security key should be negligible in terms of cost outlay.
> the Titan keys I have are white-label product made by a Chinese company called Feitian with Google branding slapped on them (of course)
”White label” implies that you can buy the same exact hardware with other branding slapped onto it from other places (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-label_product)
You can’t do that with most Apple products. Even if Apple didn’t design them themselves, you can only buy them from Apple
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple starts selling the keys through it's own retail channels.